Smartphones Dominate Searches Related to Super Bowl 50 During the Game

Nearly 112 million people turned on their TVs to watch Super Bowl 50 on Sunday. While just shy of the record, it’s still an incredible amount of people watching the same thing at the same time. This clearly creates opportunity for traditional TV advertisers, as the commercials are almost as important as the game to some people. But data released by Google following the game suggested that some of the most important marketing actions happened off from the field and away from the TV screen.

Google analyzed web and mobile traffic during and after the big game, and discovered that mobile devices dominated the searches made by consumers that were related to the game. While this is somewhat to be expected (people typically watch the Super Bowl at bars or house parties where mobile devices would be their most readily available option for search), the results show major growth in mobile, even when compared to just last year.

According to the data from Google, smartphones account for 82 percent of TV ad-driven searches during the Super Bowl. That’s a 12-point jump (or nearly 20 percent increase) from last year, when 70 percent of Super Bowl ad-related searches across Google and YouTube derived from phones.

Despite the general belief that tablets are the future, they were the losers in the rankings by Google. While just 11 percent of searches related to ads aired during the big game happened on desktop/laptop, and even more meager 7 percent occurred on tablets. This most likely relates to the point mention earlier, that people watching the Super Bowl were more likely to be somewhere with their smartphones than with their tablets.

While we’re on the subject of SEO and the Super Bowl, Google also released a set of Google Trends data related to the Super Bowl. While the Broncos dominated the Panthers in search most days leading up to the big game, Carolina actually held sway throughout most of the actual game. This of course changed once the Broncos won the game. This has little marketing applications, but it’s interesting. And it does serve as a reminder that search chatter isn’t a reliable predictor of all events.

And there is certainly a point to all the online activity created by offline media and commercials. Savvy marketers should be trying to create integrated campaigns that can give consumer relevant and consistent information across multiple channels.

Google alluded to this in their report when they stated, “Micro-moments, when a consumer turns t a device to know, go, do or buy, happen all the time, even in front of the TV. Whether people are turning into the Super Bowl or their favorite TV show, they use their smartphone to search for information triggered by what they’re watching.

“This means that if you advertise on the big screen, you also have to think about how you negage people on the small scree. Be there, and be useful to them for all types of TV-ad-driven moments, from ‘I want to learn about that product’ to ‘I want to watch that ad again’ to ‘I want to buy that’”.

While they didn’t specifically use the phrase integrated marketing, the concept is the same. Create a campaign that reaches people through multiple channels and ensure that the channels support each other by providing information and avenues for conversion.

In its own way, the Super Bowl is a prime example of the potential power of integrated and mobile marketing. For more information on the benefits of integrated marketing read this article.